The Girl from Charm City
by Animaltalker
Summary: Olivia is back in SVU working a case involving street kids. She brings a cantankerous Munch in to help her work with a girl who turns out to be from Baltimore, has she uncovered a secret from his past that even he didn't know? CH 3 is up
1. Chapter 1

'Today ranks right up there on the shitty day meter,' Olivia thought to herself. She'd only been back in SVU for a short time; her stay in TARU had done her some good. She'd recharged her batteries and it had helped Elliot to work without her for a while, like they say you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone. She'd grown tired of Elliot's behavior and her own reaction to him, and he need to see what it would be like to work without her. They were back to being a team again and they were better than ever.

The same could not be said for Munch and Fin, or Munch and anyone really, but that was because of what had happened concerning his Uncle, and everyone just needed to give him some space, which was why today was, well shitty.

There'd been an attack on a street kid, and even though the attack hadn't been sexual in nature, since the victim was a juvenile it was handed over to SVU. They'd hauled in a hand full of street kids as possible witnesses including her, Joanie.

Olivia figured she was probably 14 or 15. She was about 5' 6" and probably 90 pounds soaking weight, she had very dark brown, nearly black hair that wasn't curly but had just a hint of waviness to it. Her eyes were hidden behind sunglasses and she was dressed in typical teenage black clothes, not quite Goth though, as she wasn't sporting the typical lipstick and nail polish of a Goth nor did she seem to have any body piercings that Olivia could see. There was something about the girl that seemed familiar, but Olivia couldn't quite put her finger on it.

When she interviewed Joanie she was evasive about just about everything, full name, where she lived, what she was doing in Manhattan. It was obvious to Olivia she wasn't from New York, so she'd asked Munch to see if he could place the kid's accent, that's when things went downhill

"Hey Munch, see if you can place this kid's accent. I know she's not from around here although she swears she is. I'll keep her talking and you can listen in, OK?" Olivia suggested.

"Sure," Munch said around a mouthful of sandwich he had just bit off.

Munch listened for a minute or so and then entered the interrogation room, as he finished of his sandwich he sat down and asked, "Do you miss Charm City much?"

"Who told you I was from Baltimore?" the girl asked reflexively, only it sounded more like she'd said Balmer.

"You did, you and your accent, that and the fact that you know its called Charm City. If I listened to you long enough I could probably even figure out what part of town your from," he said. As he was talking, a frown formed on her face, as though she were trying to figure something out.

"Something wrong Joanie?" Olivia asked.

"You sort of look like the guy in my Mom's happy picture," she said, still frowning at Munch.

"What?" Munch asked, sounding as confused as she looked.

Suddenly the girl leaped up from the chair and began digging in her handbag. "I've got it in here. I just know I do. I never go anywhere with out it. It's one of the few things I have left of my mom's. Here it is," she said excitedly, showing a 3" x 5" picture first to Olivia and then to John. The picture showed a younger Munch and a pretty young woman who was smiling at him.

"Felicia," John said in a soft and somewhat surprised voice.

"Yes, that was my mother's name, Felicia Thomas," the girl said.

"No, not Thomas, Johnson," Munch corrected, still looking at the photo.

"Well yeah, Johnson was my mom's name before she married my step-dad," Joanie agreed.

"Joanie, how old are you?" Munch asked, it was his turn to frown as though he were working something out.

Suddenly Olivia knew why Joanie looked so familiar, the girl had John's features, even down to his tall slender build and his large nose.

"Twelve," she said quietly and shyly, "I look older because I'm so tall. I guess my real dad must have been tall."

"What do you mean your real dad?" Olivia asked.

"My step-dad said that my real dad didn't want me, and so my Mom had to raise me on her own until he came along. He always said I should be grateful he didn't think I was worthless like my real dad did," she answered. She had placed a special emphasis on the word grateful that showed a bitterness a twelve year old shouldn't know.

"That's bullshit!" John said, and then got up and left the interrogation room slamming the door behind him hard.

"What's his problem?" Joanie asked sarcastically.

"You can't figure it out?" Olivia asked.

Joanie looked a little puzzled.

"Hey, you're the one who said he looked like the man in your Mom's picture and he knew her name, and he wondered how old you were," Olivia pointed out all the clues to Joanie.

"You think he's my real dad?" she asked incredulously.

"I think, he thinks he may be," Olivia answered.

"Well you know what, I don't care if he is. I'm too old to need a daddy. And besides, what kind of Dad would he be anyway, he ran out on my Mom and let her raise me all on her own. Now if you don't need me any more I'm out of here."

Before Olivia could do more than call out her name Joanie was gone.

All Olivia could think to say was "shit".


	2. Chapter 2

Charm City Girl Ch 2

"Hey John,"- Odafin Tutuola just let his greeting of his partner dwindle to a whisper as he saw the anger in the older detective's eyes. John charged up the stairs that led out of the building. A moment later a slender young teenage girl followed in his wake, and then Olivia came out after her.

"What's up?" Fin asked Olivia. She shrugged her shoulders and motioned for him to follow her.

"I think your partner just met his daughter," she said.

Fin put a hand on Olivia's arm to stop her and turn her towards him, "What?" he asked in amazement.

"Come on, I need to catch up with her. I wasn't done interviewing her when first John bolted and then Joanie did. I'll fill you in as we look for them," Olivia answered.

Joanie saw her "real Dad" up ahead of her, just standing on the sidewalk looking nervous, and she thought, a little lost.

"What's a matter can't figure out which way to run to get away from me?" she asked derisively.

"What?" John asked, bewildered by her question.

"Don't worry you just figure out which way you want to go and I'll go the other way. I don't want anything to do with you," she said with as much venom as a twelve-year-old street kid could muster.

"Wait, uhm look I realize my stalking out of there like that had to look bad to you, but I was kind of blindsided by this, this situation" he spread his hands out and then he ran one hand through his silver hair. "You have to understand, until I saw that picture of your mom, I had no idea you even existed, and to hear you say I didn't want you and that I left Felicia to raise you on her own, that's so wrong. I just couldn't take it. I had to, to"-

"Move or you'd jump out of your skin?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said and smiled as he nodded.

"I guess I must get that from you. Obviously I get being tall and skinny from you, and gee thanks for the nose. I wonder what else I get from you?" she asked.

As John and his daughter talked, Olivia and Fin had come out of the station house, but when they saw the newly united father and daughter talking they decided to back off and give them some time to get acquainted.

"Say, are you hungry?" John asked.

"Actually I'm starved," Joanie replied.

"Well, what's say you let me buy you something at the local diner?"

"OK on one condition."

"What's that?"

"You tell me your name."

John laughed a little. "Oh yeah, of course. I'm John Munch. And I know your name, Olivia told me, you're Joanie Thomas. Your step-dad must have adopted you, is that right?" John asked as they walked to the diner.

"Yeah, when I was going to start school, that was a few years before momma died."

"That's what you meant when you said you only had a few of your mother's things left," John said half a statement, half a question.

"Yeah," Joanie answered as she opened the door to the diner. She saw a sadness sweep over John's face, but he didn't say anything more.

After they'd been seated and decided to order the daily special, Joanie asked John a very simple but heart-felt question, "Did you love my Mom?"

"Yes," John answered without hesitation, "but loving someone doesn't always guarantee that you can make a relationship work. Felicia and I fought like a cat and a dog. We'd fight and breakup and get back together and repeat the whole crazy mess over and over again. Finally I guess she had enough of me and she moved away."

"But I grew up in Baltimore," Joanie said puzzled.

"She must have moved back at some point, maybe when I moved up here," John suggested.

"Do I have any other family?" she asked.

"Yeah, you have a grandmother, who will adore you and want to spoil you rotten. You also have an Uncle and Aunt, that would be my kid brother Bernie and his wife Lisa, and their children would be your cousins, and then there's my Uncle Andrew, he' d be your Great-Uncle and his children would also be your cousins."

"Wow, that's a lot of family," she said.

"Yeah, well most of them live down in Baltimore, but Uncle Andrew lives here in the city."

"John?" Joanie started very shyly. "Can I stay here, in New York?"

"Unfortunately that's not up to me."

"Why not? You're my Dad."

"Biologically, but not legally," he answered.

"Isn't there something you could do about that?"

John smiled and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He hit a speed dial number and waited patiently. "Casey, I need some legal help."


	3. Chapter 3

Charm City Girl Chapter 3

Just as John ended his brief call with Casey, Fin and Olivia came into the coffee shop.

"Hi," Olivia said as she and Fin approached John and Joanie.

"Can we join you?' Fin asked.

"I guess so," John said reluctantly.

"You gonna introduce me to your lovely lady friend or what?" Fin asked.

Munch threw Fin a glare, but decided to let the comment slide. "Joanie, the guy who thinks he's so funny is Odafin Tutuola, my partner, for the time being. Fin, this is Joanie Thomas," Munch hesitated for a moment and looked at Joanie, she nodded slightly and he continued, "my daughter."

"Nice to meet ya, call me Fin" Fin said, not missing a beat, he reached out a hand to shake Joanie's.

Joanie shook his hand and then said, "Fin? That must be as in dorsal,'cause you're way too dark to be from Scandinavia."

"I can see and hear the resemblance between you and John, even if Olivia hadn't told me you were Munch's kid, I'd have figured it out," Fin added. John shot Fin another look.

"Yeah, I guess I do take after my father," Joanie replied looking at John with growing affection.

"You finally got yourself a Munchkin, old man," Fin teased his partner.

"You're on thin ice as it is Odafin, you really want a new partner that bad?"

Olivia decided to cut off the two men's continual bickering and dive right into the reasons she'd come after Joanie. "Joanie, I need you to come back to the stationhouse, I wasn't finished interviewing you about the missing girl when you left."

"Oh, I" – she looked at John and he could see a bit of panic in her eyes.

"It's OK, it's just a routine investigation. Olivia and her partner are trying to piece together what happened to the girl that disappeared, you're just a witness. No need to worry, you aren't in any trouble."

"Can you be with me?" she asked him.

"Sure he can," Olivia said.

"Uh Olivia, I'm not sure about that. I mean her step-dad is her legal guardian, I don't have any legal status, at least not yet," John interjected.

Olivia sighed. "We'll we can at least talk to the captain, see what he says," she suggested.

Munch nodded and Joanie smiled.

"What'd you mean by not yet?" Fin asked.

"I called Casey, told her I needed some legal help. She said she was coming to the squad this afternoon anyway, so she'd talk to me about it then," John answered.

"I was going to ask you before Fin and Olivia joined us, who is Casey, is she your girlfriend?" Joanie asked.

"Yeah, is Casey your girlfriend?" Fin asked, mimicking a teenager eager for juicy gossip.

John glared at him again, and then turned to Joanie, ignoring Fin and answered Joanie's first question. "Casey's an assistant DA who works with us in Special Victims. She'll be able to figure out how you can stay with me, legally."

"You didn't answer her other question, Munch," Olivia pointed out.

"No, I didn't. Come on let's get back to the squad room before Cragen sends Stabler out to find us," John suggested.

The adults all dug a few bills out of their wallets to leave on the table for the bill and tip, and then they scooted out of the booth and headed towards the station.

"Since when does it take three detectives to bring back one recalcitrant witness?" Cragen bellowed.

"Uh captain can I have a word with you," Olivia said, again trying to avoid a big scene. "Privately," she added.

"Alright, you two think you can keep our young witness here, until I finish having a word with Detective Benson?" Cragen asked Munch and Fin, the two men nodded, and Cragen turned and went into his office before they could say a word.

"So, do you have an explanation for me, or is this about something entirely off the subject?" Cragen asked sounding miffed.

"Oh what I have to say is on topic sir, the reason the three of us all went out after Joanie is – Well, actually that's not quite right, Munch left first, then Joanie left and Fin and I went after both of them," she explained, without really explaining, leaving Cragen as confused as he had been angry.

"What? Why'd Munch leave?" Cragen asked hoping he'd grasped onto a key piece of what Olivia had said..

"Because he just learned that Joanie is his daughter, a daughter he never knew he had. He also learned that her stepfather told Joanie that her real father didn't want her and had run out on her mother. So naturally Munch was a little upset with that and being Munch, he didn't handle it too well," Olivia explained somewhat breathlessly.

"Well, I guess I might want to take a little walk after finding out something like that," Cragen stole a look out his office window at John and the young girl, who he could now clearly see was John's daughter.

"She looks like him doesn't she?" he observed.

"Yeah, she's younger than we first thought because like John she's on the tall side."

"And I suppose that leanness isn't just from being on the street, but more likely just genetic," Cragen added.

"Yes, she's got a smart mouth too," Olivia said with a smirk. Don grinned back.

"You know what he's going to do next?"

"Well, he's already called Casey to get legal advice and Joanie wants him with her when Elliot and I interview her about the missing girl," Olivia saw Cragen start to say something but cut him off. "John knows he doesn't have legal status, but I told him I'd ask you if he could be there with her, all the same. Heck, it's more than she had before," she pointed out.

"OK, send John in here for a minute, would you, then you should be able to resume that interview with his daughter," Cragen said, the last words tasting strange in his mouth.

"Sure thing," Olivia said as she left his office.

"Well, John, seems like some of your wild oats took root and flourished," Cragen said, tweaking his oldest detective a bit.

"Seems that way," John admitted, blushing a bit.

"So what are you intending to do about her?" Cragen asked.

"I asked Casey if she'd tell me my legal options. She's going to be here pretty soon and she said she'd help me," John began.

"What about the girl's mother"

"Joanie told me that Felicia, that was her mother's name, that she died when Joanie was in grade school, her stepfather had adopted her a few years before that. I never knew Joanie existed until today. God how I wish Felicia had told me."

John stopped talking for a moment, and Cragen let him have the time he needed to gather himself back together to go on.

"I don't see how the adoption could be legal. I mean, I never gave up my parental rights," John explained. Cragen could hear the hope in John's voice.

"Biological parents usually do get a lot of consideration in custody matters," Cragen assured Munch and then patted him on the shoulder. "Mazel Tov John, it's a girl!"


End file.
